Category Archives: magic

magic

Shark Storm!

Commander, magic, MtG, MtG Deck Building

I seem to be back in a MtG groove at the moment. It’s been creeping up on me for a little while now.

Wanting to build decks again, finally update existing ones.

I’m even missing playing the game! Not enough to fire up a MacOS machine, and download Arena though. It’s more the playing with friends, attending prereleases sort of thing. The social side. I miss games of Commander.

Earlier in the year Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths hit the shelves of empty FLGS around the world. I said in a post at the time this was a set I was excited about because thematically it fitted in with one or two of my Commander decks. Sadly I wasn’t excited enough to spend time or money going after single cards to strengthen my decks.

But now things have changed.

I’d love a set (singles) of the Godzilla themed cards. But only one or two fit into decks I play. And I can’t currently justify the expense.

There are a couple of cards Shark Typhoon and Shark token that grabbed my attention and imagination from Ikoria. Both have art by Caio Monteiro that I love.

It’s obvious these cards were inspired by the rather cheesy, “low budget”, guest appearance packed, B movie Sharknado series of movies. I am a fan of those movies. They are tacky, cheesy, tongue in cheek. But entertaining, and fun.

And the movies were the first thing that came to mind when I saw the art on the cards.

The art is gorgeous. Caio has done an amazing job here. The sharks look monstrous, the raw power of the weather phenomenon has been captured. It feels threatening and wondrous at the same time. Love it.

Here are the actual cards.

The enchantment Shark Typhoon is so my Simic Horrors from the Deep Commander deck. A deck that has one or two new cards that need fitting in somehow (among them Arcane Signet, the Thriving Lands, modal doubled sided cards that are lands one side, a spell the other, plus others).

Ok most of the time it’s not going to be spamming out big sharks. It should generate something between a 1/1 and a 7/7. With the majority being 3/3’s or 4/4’s. But bodies on the board for blocking don’t hurt. Plus that cycling does allow me to sink mana into it and get a big body on the board.

I so want to play Commander now with this deck (once updated).

Some sources for running horror in RPGs

D&D, genesys, magic, MtG, RPG, W.O.I.N.

With a stomach bug taking me out of action for a day or three, I’m slowly getting back to the new normal.

Which means I’ve been doing a bit of research that I should have been doing a while back.

Earlier in the year I was watching the Gen Con YouTube channel and their three streamed Alien RPG sessions for the Chariot of the Gods cinematic scenario (these are one shot adventures, that use precon characters and have a high body count!). During the start of the first session the GM quickly runs through what amounts to a session zero. It was when he stated that he was a fan of body horror, and he will be describing things in detail.

That left me a bit confused. What was body horror? It’s not a term I was familiar with. I knew slasher flicks (Friday 13th, Halloween etc), video nasties (hey that was my teenage years in the 80’s, although I pretty sure the majority were banned for the shit acting), and torture porn (Hostel).

But body horror? Nope not heard of it.

Then again it didn’t surprise me, these days I rarely watch any horror movies. I suppose I could have asked my friend James. He’s a massive horror fan. Boy does he watch some obscure stuff. But I never got round to it.

Over the months afterwards I got the rulebook for the Alien RPG, I already had the D&D Curse of Strahd (CoS) adventure, and the desire to run a horror based game of some sort buried itself away in the back of my brain.

With the recent release of another D&D horror inspired adventure, Icewind Dale Rime of the Frostmaiden (IDRotF) that desire to run a horror based game floated to the forefront once more.

But what information was out there to help run such a game?

Well within the pages of CoS we are given page 7 Marks of Horror. Which is a page of tips for running horror. Whilst in IDRotF all we get is a breakout box warning about the content (see image below).

But this fails for me as a warning. You actually have to go to D&D Beyond to get an idea about the content and some great advice for running horror in D&D in the post Creating Terror without Being a Jerk.

But none of this stuff told me what body horror was.

Then I remembered that the Pathfinder RPG had a horror adventure book. What did that have inside?

In Chapter 6 – Running Horror Adventures it defined body horror as…

“This visceral subgenre concerns itself with the organic terror of the flesh, including disease, physical corruption, and transformation. At its basest level, body horror is the revulsion felt upon hearing a bone break or seeing a joint violently bend in the wrong direction. Elaborated upon, it’s the terror of becoming physically monstrous and the awfulness that might hide within.”

Cool I was a lot wiser now.

I can see how that would fit in with the Alien RPG and the cinematic scenarios. Although I feel that the Alien RPG would be more cosmic horror with some body horror moments (facehuggers, chestbursters). The Pathfinder book has some pretty cool stuff in there that is of use for other systems.

In my internet journeys I stumbled across a quote by Stephen King (see below) and his book of essays about writing and horror Danse Macabre. It’s a bit old now.

But going by that quote still relevant. So I picked up the audible version of the book.

There is a little but brief information within the Alien RPG about running a horror session. Shockingly light really. There is also a section on Horror as a tone within the Genesys RPG core rulebook.

That’s been the disappointing bit with D&D and the Alien RPG. The brevity or lack of information.

But I feel between King and the Pathfinder book I now have enough to equip myself with running a horror based RPG session. But more importantly use the correct language whilst talking with the players, and be comfortable knowing where the lines should be based on the players feedback. Which is where I should be when using a pre-written adventure/scenario.

I’d like to think that once I’ve finished King and the Pathfinder chapter I’ll have basic tools and knowledge to create my own horror one-shot. Whether it’s a cinematic scenario for the Alien RPG (I do love the Alien universe), uses the Genesys system (ideally with the Android setting), Cyberpunk Red, D&D or Judge Dredd/Strontium Dog.

Go ahead and jump

Commander, magic, MtG

Nearly a week without me posting anything. Not a record, but still in these uncertain times finding stuff to write about without just writing drivel (ok you could describe my regular content as that) is hard. Mix in a little apathy and you get these gaps between posts.

Read this next sentence like the Rock in the square circle! It’s been a while but FINALLY the UK and Europe gets the Jumpstart set.

It was looking very uncertain for a long time. Delay after delay. It came out in limited supply in the US and other parts of the world. But it was not looking good for here.

Then about three, four weeks ago WotC made an announcement that Jumpstart would hit the the shelves and tables of UK and European FLGS.

If you have played Smash Up! where each player chooses two themed decks, shuffles them together, and then plays against each other. Then you have basically how Jumpstart works for MtG.

I like this format a lot because it is very new player friendly. They don’t need to know how to build decks, or own lots of cards. Buy some Jumpstart boosters, chose two, shuffle together, and play. All a player has to do is decide which themed boosters they like or want to mash together.

Just because you get say two minion decks does not mean you have the same two decks. For most of the deck types there are at least two versions of the deck.

Naturally there are some sweet reprints within this set, such as Rhystic Study (which sadly I didn’t get).

But I did get a card I wanted for my goblin deck, Muxus, Goblin Grandee.

I nearly bought it as a single. But it’s price put me off. I usually use Krenko as the decks commander. However I’ll definitely be giving the deck a run with Muxus as the commander. Although my gut is saying one of the ninety nine. So I’m chuffed to have pulled the card.

Because players are mostly, ok very, no definitely going to be playing duel colour decks, each booster gets the appropriate Thriving land.

These lands are great for Commander players. Ok they come in tapped, but being able to name a second colour that it can be tapped for is the cool part. It’s another dual land basically. That all important mana fixing. I expect Commander players will be picking these up fast especially while they are “cheap”. I’ll be using these definitely in my multicoloured decks such as Scarab God, Dragons Tribal, Dinosaur Tribal, etc.

I’m really happy that we finally get to play with Jumpstart. If WotC are intelligent they will keep this set in print and make them the basis of open house events (once we are back playing in our FLGS). They are that new player friendly.

Testing! Testing!

Deck tech, magic, MtG, MtG Deck Building

I finally built the set part of the Lego Movie Set I have. It’s been sitting on a shelf for nearly two years now.

So I took a test photo with it (below) that has Lego me in it next to a MtG card.

The possible idea I had and still might play with is to use the set to create alternative content for this blog, like videos! But there is a major hurdle that needs to be overcome first. The same hurdle that had to be overcome before this Lego was built. Apathy.

Let’s briefly look at the MtG card while we are here.

Kaervek, the Spiteful is one of the recent MtG cards I have put to one side for possible use in Commander decks.

It’s not a card that would go into a current deck of mine. It’s not a zombie for starters so wouldn’t make my Scarab God deck. However it’s something I’d like to team up with Massacre Girl. Kaervek is a 1/1 token board wipe and keeps it clear. Which I really like the idea of. The decision is do I go mono black and have Kaervek as the Commander or do I splash black and have them as one of the ninety nine? That decision will have to wait until I finish another deck idea that I have floating around.

I do have to say that the flavour text on this card is awesome.

On a completely different note using the Big Bang AR app I took this selfie that it enables you to take and turned it into a thumbnail for the blog.

What type of post I will associate it with I have no idea.

Zendikar Rising Commander Decks Impressions

Commander, magic, MtG

Wow like buses, you wait for MtG content on this blog and all of a sudden three posts come along at once!

With Zendikar Rising officially releasing on Friday it meant we also got the two Commander decks that accompany this set. Ok they were meant to be out for prerelease. But a week delay these days is neither here or there.

As the back of one of the new Commander deck boxes (see image below) shows these decks differ from the annual Commander offering we get.

The first is the large version of the Commander is not in these decks. I miss them. I’m a fan of them.

The included deck box although relatively thin cardboard so won’t last forever, does allow for the decks to be sleeved. Unlike the annual Commander deck boxes. Although those are a bit more durable.

I like the addition of the life wheel. Although it could be improved so that it caters for life totals greater than 40. Once again this is not a durable item, and a short term solution. But needed for a new player to start using the deck straight away.

Naturally these new decks are built around Zendikar Rising and mechanics from the set. So Land’s Wrath is all about making use of the landfall mechanic. So naturally it has creatures that have the landfall mechanic that triggers some benefit when a land is played, it has cards for fetching lands from the library and playing extra lands on a turn, white gives the deck a couple of board wipes. And there is some playing cards from the graveyard. Which is going to be handy considering the other deck.

Sneak Attack is a rogue tribal deck. Black gives this deck it’s board wipes and removal. It’s got milling (look at the Commanders abilities for starters). Along with that it has graveyard shenanigans that allows the player to play creatures from opponents graveyards. Because this is a tribal deck there are cards that play into that.

Its obvious these two decks are designed to be played against each other. However they are also less powerful than the annual decks. Which I think is reflected in their cheaper price, and the number of new cards and reprints.

I’ve not played the decks yet, for obvious reasons. But they look good starting points for new players to the format. If they haven’t already I’m pretty sure MTGoldfish will have some sort of budget upgrade post for these decks going up soon.

I like this idea of releasing Commander decks based on a set. Although I’d like to see them release a set of 4 instead of just a couple so a group of friends can play against each other with decks at a similar level. Like the annual decks are designed for.

Core21 Welcome Booster

magic, MtG

At long last I finally got my hands on a Core21 Welcome booster.

WotC replaced the Welcome decks with these Welcome boosters.

These boosters like the Welcome decks are meant to be given to new players to the game. A new player turns up to their FLGS, gets taught how to play MtG (now with the decks from the Starter Kit), then afterwards gets given a Welcome booster.

Before I look at the Welcome booster. I’m going to briefly look at the Starter Kit.

The current Starter Kit is I believe the third iteration of the kit. They are an interesting product. Designed specifically to teach MtG. Although looking at this current version of the product it’s less new player friendly!


Below is the earlier version. As you can see it had two spin down life counter dice, two decks, two player aids that took the players through their first five turns, and a rule book.

The decks were pre-shuffled!

What I liked about this first version was the pre-shuffled deck and the guide teaching the game. It meant two new players could learn together without needing an experienced player. Plus the spin downs for tracking life. Why they are missing from the current version I don’t know. A new player will need one!

It seems WotC are trying to push players onto Arena, and using that to teach the game! Not cool in my opinion. And a step backwards. Two friends should be able to purchase this, sit down at the kitchen table, crack open the Starter Kit and start learning to play. They shouldn’t have to first sit round a pc/Mac download the app, create an account, register the Arena code and then get taught the basics, log off and on,y then start playing with their new decks. How the feck is that new player friendly? It’s a major step backwards.

Onto the Welcome booster.

“The Welcome Booster contains ten cards. Each Welcome Booster is exactly the same.”


The cards are a mix of standard legal and Commander cards, and I believed meant to be the start of a new players collection.

It’s the Commander cards that were of interest to me. Commander’s Sphere is a Commander staple. Garruk, Primal Hunter could fit in nicely to my big green stompy deck. Archetype of Imagination is always handy in a deck splashing blue. A shiny land is always welcome.

As freebies go, it’s ok. I think pitched just about right. Nothing so good or expensive you have experienced players clamouring to get it at the expense of new players.

Now I need to get my hands on the new Zendikar Rising Welcome booster.

Zendikar Rising Prerelease Weekend

magic, MtG

Don’t forget it’s the Zendikar Rising Prerelease weekend.

I know it’s not the same as the “old days” where we would turn up at a store, register, build a 40 card deck, play some magic, get a couple of participation boosters. Generally have a great time playing an awesome game, getting excited about the new cards, etc.

But we can still have that excitement of cracking packs.

So pop along if you can, or order on line your prerelease kit from your FLGS.

At my FLGS we also got an additional booster with the prerelease kit one of the new set boosters. You can read about them here.

I hope you pull some great stuff.

A rare MtG Post

Commander, magic, MtG

This feels real odd writing a post about MtG. I’ve not written anything about it for what seems an age.

With the Zendika Rising prerelease due to happen this coming weekend, I ended up splashing out for some singles to go into a couple of my Commander decks. Don’t ask me how that happened or what the thought process was.

The three decks that will be seeing these cards as tweaks are my Scarab God Zombie tribal deck, Big Green Stompy, and Mono Red Aggro.

Ayara will be so dangerous in the Scarab God deck. It can generate lots and lots of zombie tokens. This card is definitely a threat if allowed to stay on the battlefield. Damage/life gain for just doing what my deck is designed to do! Add in card draw too. This card could be amazing.

Tectonic Giant should be a nice card in my mono red aggro deck. Especially if I can trigger it’s abilities.

Shamanic Revelation hopefully will give some card draw and life gain. Which I think I’m missing from my Big Green Stompy deck. Whilst Garruk’s Uprising will also do that, it’s another source of trample for my creatures. Both cards will easily be triggered, iirc there are hardly any creatures less than 4 power. And if my hydras or any X power creature is coming in at less than 4 power I’m in a very bad position. Liege of the Tangle just gives me another big body that can turn lands into even more big bodies.

As I said these cards are tweaks, with only one being a major game changer.

The big question for me this Autumn/Winter is, will I jump on board the MtG Arena bus when allegedly it arrives on mobile at some point before the end of the year?

Obviously I’m a bit sceptical about WotC being able to do this.

At the moment I’m not feeling very warm and cuddly towards WotC and MtG Arena. I’m not expecting that to change anytime soon. But we will see.

Some D&D Arrivals

D&D, magic, miniatures, MtG, RPG

Wow six days since I’ve posted on here. That’s nearly a record. But understandable considering the world we currently live in.

Over the last few weeks I have got some D&D related reading material in.

The first being Volo’s Guide to Monsters. It nearly was Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, but the chapter in Volo’s on monster lore for some of the more popular monsters like beholders, goblins, orcs, etc is what swung it for me. With the lair maps for the relevant monster these are instant adventures/encounters you can call upon at any time.

I’ve been a fan of The Monsters Know What They’re Doing blog for a while now. Being able to look up a monster and get some tactics for it that is not just attack until dead or run away, making them more intelligent, challenging and believable is a great thing to have.

And although this book is a collection of the blog postings that have been revisited, corrected, expanded and some new monsters, just having them in print and handy is a great reason to buy this.

Finally as promised Mythic Odysseys of Theros has finally hit the FLGS. The alt art FLGS exclusive cover is gorgeous. And foil! Sadly the promised double sided Theros map didn’t make it to the FLGS at the same time. With no hint of when it will arrive. Which as far as I can see means extra cost to the FLGS to send them out to customers. I knew WotC would manage to screw things up for this somehow.

With the new wave of Wizkids minis hitting stores I took the opportunity to buy a miniature to add to my undead horde now it was a reasonable price to get. I’ll reveal more about that mini in another post once it’s here and painted.

At the same time I ordered another Minotaur skeleton by Wizkids. Which I didn’t realise was pre-painted.

A bit of a result that. Saves me the job of doing it.

But the amount of packaging was ridiculous. So much waste. Wizkids could easily have used half of the amount. It’s instantly gone in the recycling bin.

Go ahead and jump!

magic, MtG, MtG Deck Building

I’ve not written anything for more than a couple of days. Even with the easing of lockdown, the opening of shops etc, I’m still observing it as much as possible to minimise the risk of bringing anything back that could be passed onto Nan or Mum.

There have been no plans yet discussed about holding club game sessions again. Our hosts aren’t open yet for instance.

So in reality there hasn’t really been much to write about. There is not a lot of gaming going on with others.

Although I did play a couple of games of MtG using a Core Set 2021 Prerelease kit Monday afternoon with a couple of friends using webcams. Or in my case a cobbled together setup of my iPhone showing my play area. And viewing my opponents play area on my iPad. The magic glue was a discord server, and for me two discord accounts!

That almost felt strange writing about MtG. I haven’t done that it a while.

Hitting the UK any day (hopefully, although I do believe WotC may have pushed the date back for reasons) is Jumpstart.

I think the easiest way to describe Jumpstart is WotC do Smash Up! for MtG. Or as WotC describe it “…mashes together themes from throughout the history of the game and lets you skip the deckbuilding part. … Grab two boosters, shuffle them together, and you’re ready to go.” So you can see why I compare it to Smash Up! Which builds its decks in the same way.

So what can you expect in a Jumpstart booster? “Each booster contains 20 cards centered on a theme. What theme each booster contains is randomized, but each themed 20 cards will be sealed inside the pack and labled.” Apparently “One in three boosters includes an extra rare.” But there are nearly 500 reprints, 37 new cards, and it also shares cards with Core Set 2021 but is a separate product. “Every pack includes one basic land with art that matches the pack’s theme. A few of them use thematically appropriate lands from M21, but most of them use brand-new themed land art created for Jumpstart.”

Some Jumpstart packs are out in the wild because they were given away with Core Set 2021 booster box purchases from stores. Reports have the print quality of the cards being poor. I’ve also seen it reported Jumpstart is not a limited run product and that WotC will keep printing it as long as there is demand. So as long as you are patient there is no need to pay through the nose for this set.

I like the idea of this set. It’s great for new and returning players. Buy two packs and play! It makes getting started very accessible. Like ninjas and dinosaurs? But the packs and go. Doesn’t get easier than that. I’m hoping it pushes Rhystic Studies prices down, and I pull one. There are certain themes I’m interested in as Commander deck material.

All I want to now is get some boosters and play some casual MtG.